This choice: Jamie asks Adam to go somewhere together. • Go Back...Chapter #6Jamie asks Adam to go somewhere together. by: Kilbil   "Alright then. Why don't we-?"
"Let's go to the lake together!"
Adam lets out his demand before Jamie could even finish his sentence. The sheer force and conviction behind his words is enough to get Jamie to stumble a bit, ears ringing a bit from how loud his voice was. Fortunately, it doesn't look like any of the nearby windows had cracked like last time - in hindsight, the fact that Jamie hadn't been rendered deaf should have been clue enough as to that. Adam looks down on Jamie, eyes wide and eager and trained on his tiny body like a puppy ready for a treat. It would almost be endearing if it weren't for the fact that his head was casting a deep shadow over his "big" brother's comparatively minuscule body, reminding Jamie of how just one of Adam's toes could crush a Hummer without him even noticing.
"You were ready with that, weren't you," Jamie plainly observed, trying his best to hide the small waver that had formed in his voice. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Adam was never one for reading people even when they weren't as small as beetles to him, so he breezily replied with:
"Well, I don't wanna be anywhere else. So can we go? Please?""
If his eyes were shimmering before, they were practically radiant now, his mouth curled in and his cheeks puffed out in an overexaggerated pout as Adam did the best impression of a wounded puppy that he could (frankly, Jamie though that Adam was getting a little old for the "puppy dog" schtick, but, as much as he hated to admit it, he was still able to pull it off). As he does so, he subconsciously brushes up closer against the face of a neighboring house, the facade crumpling and into shards of broken vinyl shards and plywood. The damage quickly proved too much for the poor little above, as the entire building ended up caving in on itself, bringing the entire thing down in a brilliant shower of wood chips and dried plaster. Amidst the ruins, bits of broken furniture and pottery could be seen strewn about the mess of lumber frames and concrete, with the only structure left stranded being a red brick-and-motor chimney, standing tall amidst the wreckage as a survivor of war.
This lasted for all of about ten seconds before the chimney began to tip over, landing right on top of the house next door, leaving an impressive rectangular dent on its side that made it look like the disfigured head of a hunchback. Both brothers stare at the ruins for a long moment, Jamie silently thankful that both owners was currently off for the holidays while also desperately praying that their insurance was godlike.
"...please ignore that."
"...alright." Jamie replied tentatively, using every last bit of his willpower to not chastise his brother for his chronic carelessness. "But you have to promise me that from now on, you won't wander off on your own and will pay attention to where you're go-!"
"I will! Thank you so much, Jamie! I promise you won't regret this!"
Before Jamie could so much as get another word in edgewise, Adam had scooped Jamie up in his grubby, megalithic hands, gripping him tight as he eagerly sprinted on ahead without a care in the world, leaving massive footprint-shaped potholes in the streets and tearing huge gashes across the nearby fences and front yards as he went. As Jamie was shaken and whipped around in the wind, eyes closed tight as hurricane shutters as his face quickly became a canvas of squashed flies, he was beginning to regret every decision that had led to this moment.
~~~
By the time they had finally arrived at the lake, and Adam had at long last let Jamie down on solid ground, Jamie was certain he had reenacted Dante's descent to hell and then some. As he drunkenly stumbled out of Adam's outstretched, expansive palm like a newborn fawn, Jamie had to take a few moments to reorient himself, his head still in a daze from being tossed around like at doll as his brother had raced ahead at speeds that would make a bullet train blush. Every inch of his body felt like there was either an itch or an ache waiting to present itself from being squeezed in his brother's iron-vice grip for so long. His hair and clothes were sticky from being pressed against his brother's clammy skin for so long; the sweat and other bodily oils were practically drenching him from head to toe in grime and filth.
In other words, Jamie looked - and felt - completely and utterly miserable; something that Adam had only just appeared to notice, as he had abruptly gone silent right when he was in the middle of excitedly taking about everything that he wanted to do today with his favorite big brother (knowing Adam, there was every chance that he genuinely did not remember that Jamie was his only big brother). It took everything in Jamie not to throw up then and there, but he didn't bother hide his irritation as he wiped the dead bugs off of his face, which Adam could only respond to with a sheepish "sorry."
After that, once both brothers had gotten themselves settled by the lakeside, things fortunately began to improve by leaps and bounds. The next few hours seemed to pass by like nothing as for the first time in a very long while, the two got the chance to simply... enjoy each other's company. Whether it was playing tag and using the craterous footprints left by Adam as hiding spots, or ,nothing seemed to be off limits. They had even gotten the chance to relax a bit in the water, with Jamie resting on his brother's exposed stomach as they both drifted on the surface on the lake - although, since Adam by himself managed to take up most of the breadth of the lake, it was more like he was resting on a peach-skinned island, the gentle hum of his heartbeat and the warmth of his skin soothing him and carrying his worries far, far away.
Jamie silently thanked his lucky stars that nobody had caught them yet. Even though the lake was out in the open, and was right next to the local park, there was also a nearby resort that opened up to this area, with a couple of luxury log cabins resting just across the lake facing them. This meant that technically, they were on private property, and were thus trespassing just by being here. But both him and Adam always thought that was stupid, so here they were, sitting by the lake, taking in the afternoon breeze as the former sat on top of the latter's shoulder, watching the sunset in quiet contemplation.
"You know." The sound of his brother's grateful voice abruptly broke Jamie from his "I just... well, I-thank yousomuch!"
"For what?
"For letting me take you here! And for, well, hanging out with me, period." As Adam awkwardly stumbled through words, his tone had grown almost... melancholy. "I couldn't imagine myself being here with anyone else other than you."
For a moment, Jamie couldn't think of a word to say - he'd never heard Adam be this somber before. "Well, you do have the twins." Even as he said this, Jamie knew that there was no way either of them would ever be caught dead sitting around just watching the sunset. Not when they could be wrestling each other in one of the nearby forests, roaring in triumph as they pinned each other down, the thrill of feeling the oakwood trees toppling around them as collateral pushing them all the further. Still, he had to ask: "Why couldn't you take them here?"
"...I didn't want to." Adam replied in a subdued pout, eyes now suddenly focused on anything but his tiny older brother.
"Aw, c'mon, squirt." Jamie teased. "You know the twins aren't that bad. Just....rambunctious."
"But they don't listen to me! If I'd asked them, they'd just brush me off and go off on their own! I'm not like you! I can't get people to respect me, let alone like me! And... and I don't have anyone else I can hang out with - all I am to everyone else is 'that giant freak who keeps screwing up everything....'"
A dark shadow seems to cast itself over Jamie's eyes as he continues in a low, warbly voice: "'s to the point where the police 've been getting a lot scarier with me. I... I don't think that I'll be able to see you again next time."
An awkward silence hangs in the air after that. Jamie's shoulders begin to ache, tendons pulling against each other like piano wire.
"...so please!" His voice croaks now, eyes glistening with unshed tears as his eyes now loomed directly over him, threatening to swallow Jamie whole. It felt like he was on the edge of an endless abyss. "I just... I just want to be with you one more time! Then you won't have to see me ever again!"
Jamie could feel every molecule of sweat that was trickling down his face. He had no idea that Adam had been feeling like this. He wasn't ready for this. None of them were ready for this.
"...I...you know that I can always visit you," Jamie replied. "You thought that I wouldn't?"
A part of him felt awful seeing the way Adam looked like his world had been flipped upside-down, shattered, and rearranged into a mosaic of some non-Euclidian creature. "I-you really-!? But I...I....all I do is cause trouble, so-!"
"You do. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Pain or not, there was no way I'm going to let my little brother feel alone."
Adam's eyes and mouth became wobbly as held his brother up on both palms. "Thank you!"
Adam proceeded to jump with joy. The nearby cabins, their foundations already weakened considerably by the boy's clumsy footfalls from their earlier game of tag, caved in completely, crumpling in on themselves in a hail of wooden splinters. Once more, both bothers stared at each other, Adam's smile decidedly a little more forced as he once more pleaded to his brother with shimmering eyes and an adorable pout. Somehow, the sentiment felt more desperate this time.
"...let's get out of here."
"On it!"
Like that, Adam had scooped Jamie up, the teen jostling around once more as the 13-year-old ran like his life depended on it.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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